Stunts Biography - Vince Deadrick

Episodes

tos

The Enterprise is visiting an apparently uninhabited planet after a gruelling few months. They are hoping to give the crew a little down time on the planet to rest. With that in mind a landing party is investigating the surface. They find the planet a veritable Eden, with no people or even animal life. As Sulu and McCoy enjoy the surroundings, however, McCoy wanders off and is startled to be greeted by a large rabbit who declares "Oh my paws and whiskers! I'll be late!" before hopping off into the bushes. The rabbit is then followed by a young girl.

Although he can hardly believe what he saw, McCoy dutifully calls the ship to report it. Kirk smilingly accepts the report before dismissing it out of hand, assuming it to be a practical joke on McCoy's part. Spock approaches Kirk with news of a crewmember who is displaying signs of stress and poor performance. Kirk orders the person to take a break on the planet, only for Spock to reveal that he is talking of Kirk himself. The Captain beams down with Yeoman Barrows for a little R&R. However, we see that somehow, a pistol has appeared on the surface. Kirk meets up with McCoy, who has found paw prints confirming his rabbit. Kirk signals the Enterprise and orders them to hold off on beaming down their crew for shore leave. Suddenly shots ring out in the distance; the officers race over to find Sulu shooting the pistol, enthused at the antique which is as good as anything in his collection. Spying the footprints again Kirk orders Barrows and Sulu to follow them whilst he and McCoy check out the glade. As they head there an antenna pops up behind them, apparently scanning them.

As they walk Kirk muses about his academy experiences, where he was tormented by an upperclassman called Finnegan. Kirk was often the butt of Finnegan's practical jokes. They separate, McCoy following the rabbit prints whilst Kirk follows the girl's footprints. As he walks through the fields Kirk is astonished to encounter Finnegan, who jovially challenges him to a fight. After a little taunting Kirk begins to accept, only to hear screams in the distance. He breaks off and runs, meeting McCoy on the way. They find Barrows crying, her uniform torn. She reports being attacked by a mysterious man who she compares to Don Juan - a fictional character she was just thinking about. Kirk leaves McCoy with Barrows and chases off after Sulu, who had pursued the character. As he runs he fails to notice another antenna scanning him...

Kirk can't find Sulu but he encounters somebody even more startling - Ruth, an old flame of his. He is contacted by McCoy, but shrugs it off. Another member of the landing party, Rodriguez, reports that he saw a flock of birds - on a planet that is not supposed to have any animal life. Kirk orders everyone to assemble at the glade to compare notes and reluctantly leaves Ruth behind.

Spock signals with reports of a power source on the planet. It is a highly advanced source, indicating large scale industrial engineering of some sort - and worse, it is draining power from the Enterprise. The oddities continue to pile up. Barrows is commenting on the fairytale surroundings and how a girl should be wearing flowing gowns here, only to find exactly those clothes nearby. McCoy's urges her to change into the dress, promising not to peek as she changes. He gets a call from Esteban to head for the rendezvous, though communications is rapidly failing. Matters are further complicated by Esteban having to hide from a tiger!

Kirk talks to Spock on the ship, discussing what they have seen. He doubts that they can be hallucinations, but declines Spock's offer to beam down an armed party. Sulu arrives, having been chased by a Samurai warrior! Spock manages to beam himself down before power on the Enterprise falls too low. At the glade McCoy and Barrows arrive, only to find a knight prepared for jousting! McCoy declares that the mysterious appearances on the planet cannot be real, and therefore can't be capable of harming them - when the knight charges he stands his ground, only to be impaled and killed instantly. With their phasers now inoperative Kirk guns the knight down with Sulu's antique pistol.

Barrows blames herself for the death, but Kirk forces her to snap out of it and focus on their work. Sulu examines the knight only to find that it isn't a real person, but rather some sort of non living dummy. Spock scans it and finds that it is some sort of mechanical contrivance, a manufactured object - as are all the plants around them. Apparently everything on the surface is a mere artificial creation.

Nearby, Esteban and Angela Martine see an early aircraft flying around - something he was just talking about recently. The aircraft strafes them, killing Martine. Back in the glade the officers find that both McCoy and the knight have vanished. Spock thinks he has an answer, albeit an unlikely one. It appears that whatever people are imagining is coming to life before their eyes. He proves the point by asking Kirk to remember what he was thinking about earlier, only to see Finnegan pop up again. Kirk chases Finnegan down and demands to know what is going on, and the two engage in an extended fight. Kirk is finally victorious. Spock appears to reveal his theory; their thoughts are being read by whatever machines exist on the planet, and whatever they think of is being manufactured instantly and presented to them. Kirk and Spock race to the glade, dodging tigers and aircraft and Samurai along the way. Kirk assembles everyone and puts them to attention in an effort to focus their thoughts and prevent more things from appearing.

A strange man appears and announces that he is the caretaker of the place. He apologises for what has happened, saying that he has only just realised that they didn't understand what was happening. The whole planet was built for his race as an amusement park, a place where people could come and have absolutely anything they imagine appear, live out any fantasy or wish. Kirk is still angry about the deaths... but McCoy arrives with a chorus line girl on each arm to announce that nobody has died! He was taken to the subsurface support machinery and patched up, good as new.

The caretaker tells Kirk that he doesn't think the Federation is ready for contact with his people, but he does offer to let the Enterprise crew beam down and enjoy themselves on the planet for a while. Kirk agrees, telling the ship to prepare everyone to have the best shore leave of their lives. As Ruth reappears, he also decides to stay himself.

A while later everyone returns, having had a great time on the planet and looking much more relaxed for it. They ship heads out of orbit to resume their mission.

The Enterprise has discovered a series of solar systems in which every planet is gone, apparently destroyed by some unknown force. Whilst investigating they pick up a distress call and find the USS Constellation, a Constitution class starship like themselves, adrift and wrecked. Kirk beams over to the ship with a landing party, and they set about investigating the damage and trying to determine what happened. The Captain, Commodore Matt Decker, is found catatonic in the auxiliary control room, apparently the only member of the crew on board. He mutters about something attacking the ship, something he refers to as "the devil".

The Constellation's logs reveal that Decker had investigated the break up of a planet only to be attacked by some sort of alien device, a massive roughly conical spacecraft of immense power. The ship attacked but was crippled and Decker beamed his crew down to a habitable planet to save them, remaining behind as the last man aboard. Unfortunately the alien machine disabled the transporters and then attacked the planet, destroying it and the crew completely. Spock theorizes the device smashes planets into rubble which it then consumes to fuel itself, leaving a trail of utter destruction behind it as it moves through the galaxy. Back projection of its course shows that it probably originated from beyond our own galaxy, whilst it is shortly to arrive in one of the most densely populated regions where it will cause an unimaginable holocaust.

Kirk theorizes that the device is a weapon, a "doomsday machine" which was deliberately built to be so powerful that if it was ever used in a war it would destroy both sides completely - something like the old hydrogen bomb on Earth was intended to be. Probably intended to ensure that a war would not happen, in reality the doomsday machine was unleashed, annihilating both it's creators and their enemies and then continuing on its way to destroy everything else in it's path. The hull of the device is composed of neutronium, making it invulnerable to Federation weapons, whilst its own weapon is a pure antiproton beam which can penetrate Federation shielding systems with ease.

Kirk sends McCoy back to the Enterprise with Decker whilst he and Scotty remain on the Constellation with an engineering party to try and get the ship in condition to move. However the doomsday machine arrives, blocking communications via an interference effect. Decker comes to the Enterprise bridge and, as the ranking officer present, forces Spock to relinquish command of the ship to him. He proceeds to attack the doomsday device, determined to destroy it despite the fact that their weapons are completely ineffective.

The Enterprise is quickly damaged and caught in a tractor beam, dragged towards the machine's massive mouth. On the Constellation Kirk and Scotty manage to get a degree of maneuvering power and a phaser bank working, and attack the device to draw it away from the Enterprise. The two ships between them manage to beat a retreat, each luring it away from the other in turn.

Clear of the interference, Kirk calls the Enterprise and orders Spock to relieve Decker of command regardless of regulations. Spock complies, sending Decker to sickbay for a medical examination so that McCoy can determine whether he is officially fit for command or not. However on the way down Decker overpowers his escort and steals a shuttlecraft, escaping the ship. Desolate with guilt over his failures, he commits suicide by piloting the shuttle directly down the throat of the doomsday machine.

Sulu's sensors detect a tiny drop in power in the machine afterwards, and Kirk wonders if perhaps the explosion of the shuttle had caused some minor damage since it had bypassed the invulnerable hull by being swallowed up. He suggests repeating the trick with the Constellation itself, sending it directly into the machine and detonating the impulse engines within the device. Scotty rigs up a simple self destruct and beams back to the Enterprise as they fly the ship towards the machine - unfortunately the transporter malfunctions due to battle damage, leaving Kirk stranded. With the machine approaching Kirk calmly awaits his fate, and at the very last moment Scotty manages to beam him off the ship. The Constellation explodes inside the doomsday device, leaving it as an inert hulk.

Back on the ship, Kirk notes the irony that Earth nations once used the same kind of doomsday philosophy in an attempt to stave off war, using hydrogen bombs to threaten mass destruction - ironic because here they used a similar hydrogen explosion within the impulse engines to disable the doomsday machine. Kirk wonders if this may be the first time such a weapon has been used for constructive purpose.

The Enterprise is visiting the planet Gamma Trianguli VI. A landing party finds the planet to be a paradise, with a planetwide warm climate. However, a call from Scotty on the ship brings trouble - the ship is experiencing a minor problem with the antimatter pods, possibly related to abnormalities in the magnetic field of the planet itself. Spock's tricorder detects underground vibrations coming from all directions, vibrations which he thinks are artificially produced. As the landing party scouts around they detect a life form nearby, apparently somebody watching them.

They proceed towards a nearby village, but along the way the planet offers up a few surprises. A rock explodes when tossed to the ground; a plant fires poison darts; a freak storm suddenly blows up and Spock is struck by lightning. It appears that Gamma Trianguli VI is not so pleasant a place after all!

Meanwhile on the Enterprise, the problem becomes worse - the antimatter pods have become completely inert, as if some external force had extinguished them. Without main power the ship is all but helpless and unable to beam the landing party up.

They reach the village, although two of the landing party are killed on the way by the planets strange dangers. Kirk manages to capture the native who is watching them, and they demand to know what is going on. The man claims to be the "leader of the feeders of Vaal." They continue on to the village with the man, who is named Akuta. He agrees to take them to Vaal - which proves to be a giant stone head reminiscent of a reptile. The head is surrounded by a powerful forcefield, making any approach impossible. They go back to the village to rest. Kirk notes that there are no children there - prompting confusion from the natives, who apparently have no idea what children are. Vaal, they say, has forbidden men and women to touch one another, and there is no reproduction allowed - much to McCoy's disgust. The Doctor scans the people and finds every one of them to be in perfect health, without any sign of ageing amongst them.

Vaal calls the villagers, and they bring supplies of food to place inside the head - the forcefield apparently allowing them in to feed their god. Kirk ponders whether Vaal might become weaker if it is denied the regular influx of food. Kirk and McCoy seem determined to destroy Vaal, claiming that it is stifling the right of the natives to a "free and unchained environment" and any chance to grow and develop as a culture. Spock warns that they are simply applying human standards to a culture which they may not apply to - the villagers surely have the right to choose a system that clearly works to provide them with long term stability.

Scotty reports that they are detecting a steady decrease in Vaal's power readings, possibly a result of the food being used up. He is working to boost the output of the ship's impulse engines, though this will take a good eight hours to accomplish. In not much longer than that the ship will fall into the atmosphere and burn up.

In the village, two of the natives observe Chekov kissing one of his female comrades and become curious as to what it is like. This apparently angers Vaal, who communicates with Akuta to tell him to kill the landing party. Vaal provides instructions on how to use violence, and the natives mount an attack. However, although one of the Enterprise crew is killed the natives are quickly defeated.

Scotty manages to complete his modifications and boost the ship into a slightly higher orbit, but he only gains an extra hour or so. Kirk decides to starve Vaal in an attempt to weaken it, and then orders the ship to direct a phaser barrage at the force field around it. Vaal is forced to expend its remaining energy to defend against the attack, and becomes inert. Without the field affecting the ship, full power is quickly restored.

Kirk tells the natives that the Federation will provide them with assistance until they can cope with life on their own. Although Spock expresses some concern with their actions the Captain is happy at the outcome, and the ship proceeds on course.

Spock and McCoy encounter a recently arrived crewmember, Crewman Norman, in the Enterprise corridors. McCoy notes that something bothers him about the man. Not only is he avoiding a medical exam, but he seems unemotional and detached from the rest of the crew. Spock, taking this as a jibe against himself, dismisses the complaint.

Norman goes to the auxiliary control center, overpowering the personnel there and taking control of the ship to lock it onto a new course. He rapidly goes to the emergency manual monitor and engineering, effortlessly defeating multiple crewmembers and resetting the ship's systems to lock out any change in the course he has laid in. Finally he proceeds to the bridge where he points out that his alterations have connected the matter-antimatter pods to the main navigational bank with a trigger relay, meaning any attempt to change course will destroy the ship. He also opens a panel in his stomach, revealing that he is an android.

The ship spends four days at Warp 7 heading for an unexplored Class K planet. Norman remains dormant throughout, standing motionless on the bridge. On arrival he demands that Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura and Chekov to beam down, threatening to destroy the engines if they refuse. They beam to a facility on the surface where None other than Harry Mudd reveals himself to have been behind their kidnapping. Mudd declares that he is now Emperor Mudd the First, and that the crew of the Enterprise will remain on his planet for the rest of their lives and there is nothing they can do about it. Mudd is accompanied by multiple robots, many of them identical to one another. He reveals that after his last encounter with the Enterprise he managed to escape from prison and engaged in further petty crime, including reselling patents. He was caught on Deneb V and sentenced to death, but again managed to steal a ship and escape. After wandering for a while he chanced on this planet and explored it, finding the facility there along with androids running it. The facility is equipped with fantastically advanced technology, capable of building massive numbers of androids to any specification, along with almost anything else one could want. Mudd, of course, stocked the place almost entirely with hundreds of female androids.

Although it seemed like a paradise at first, Mudd soon grew bored with the planet. He decided to leave, but the androids are so determined to serve him that they refuse to allow him to leave the planet. Mudd eventually told the androids about the Enterprise and asked them to capture the crew so they would have other Humans to serve, and so allow him to leave. He tries to convince Kirk that it won't be so bad, demonstrating some of the pleasant aspects of the place - including an android replica of his own wife who nags him specifically so that he can have the pleasure of yelling at her to shut up. The androids reveal that they were built by a species from the Andromeda galaxy which is now long gone.

Spock conjectures that the androids do not operate independently, but must function via some kind of control control system which guides them all. He tries to quiz them on the subject but they politely decline to answer his queries.

The androids begin trying to tempt the officers to remain. They tell Uhura that an android body will last for some half a million years. Since a human brain can be installed in one, this would give the person almost perpetual youth and beauty. Chekov finds himself enjoying the prospect of being surrounded by beautiful female androids, whilst Scotty is intrigued by their incredibly advanced engineering technology. Meanwhile the androids have forcibly removed the crew from the Enterprise, putting an android crew aboard to run the ship. There seems to be no way to stop them.

Kirk is increasingly annoyed by the situation, and when an Alice series android promises him that they will do anything to make him happy he states that he cannot be happy without his ship. Alice seems confused by this and asks Norman to "coordinate" a response, before leaving.

Mudd prepares to depart, but the androids refuse to let him leave despite their earlier deal. They reveal that they plan to export vast numbers of androids to all Human worlds, giving them the same life of complete luxury as exists on their planet - along with the same lack of freedom.

Spock notes that there are hundreds of each model of android on the planet, with the exception of Norman. There is only a single Norman as far as anybody knows. This, combined with the way the Alice asked Norman to coordinate a response when she was confused, makes Spock speculate that Norman may be the control system he spoke of earlier. Since illogic seemed to confuse the Alice, they wonder if they might not be able to overload Norman's ability to command the androids if enough strange and inexplicable behaviour is presented to the androids.

Reasoning that the androids will expect an escape attempt the crew stage a mock one, with Uhura turning traitor and telling the Androids about it so that they can foil the plan. Now hoping to have them at their ease, the crew begin their real campaign. They each challenge the androids with surreal behaviour, spreading confusion and illogic amongst them. Spock informs two of the Alice series that although he loves one of them, he hates the other - stating that he responds to them so differently because they are identical to one another. The illogic of the statement causes both androids to shut down.

The crew begin to target Norman directly, making him more and more confused until Kirk finally informs him that Harry Mudd is a liar, and everything he says is a lie. Harry then informs Norman that he is indeed lying - prompting Norman to realise that if that is a lie then Mudd must be telling the truth, but that if he is telling the truth then he must be lying. Finally overwhelmed, Norman shuts down and all of the other androids shut down with him.

With the crew back aboard the ship and control restored, Kirk decides what to do with Mudd. He will be left on the planet, stranded with the androids to look after him. Mudd is pleased that his imprisonment will at least be pleasant - until he finds that Kirk has had at least 500 copies of his nagging wife constructed, all of them designed so that they will ignore any order to shut up. Harry is thus left to indefinite imprisonment under the eternal nagging of the woman he most hates.